Enzymes: Are you Lacking?

Enzymes: Are You Lacking These Crucial Catalysts to Your Digestion?
by www.SixWise.com

http://www.sixwise.com/Newsletters/2009/March/25/Enzymes-Are-You-Lacking-These-Crucial-Catalysts.htm?source=nl

All living things, plants or animal, contain an array of 2,500 or more different enzymes. These enzymes are actually special proteins that act as catalysts for the chemical reactions that occur to keep your body functioning.

Enzymes in your saliva, for instance, help break apart starches, while those in your stomach help break down protein. Enzymes in your intestines, meanwhile, are responsible for breaking apart all of your food, whether fat, protein or carb. These digestive enzymes are what allow your food to be broken down, and the nutrients absorbed by your bloodstream.

There are other types of enzymes as well, namely metabolic enzymes and food enzymes, which are responsible for initiating, speeding up, slowing down, or otherwise altering about 4,000 different biochemical reactions. Millions of these reactions take place in your body each day, helping you to not only digest food but also to:

* Assimilate and digest nutrients
* Breathe
* Detox certain organs
* Purify your blood
* Move your muscles
* Produce and regulate hormones
* Renew and repair your cells

While your body does produce enzymes on its own, another important source is the enzymes you get from raw food.

Why Getting “Extra” Enzymes from Raw Food is so Important

Raw plant and animal foods (such as raw milk) are loaded with beneficial enzymes for your body. However, enzymes begin to be destroyed at temperatures above 110-115 degrees. So if your food is cooked, pasteurized or processed, it will contain no enzymes whatsoever.

"When you cook something, you destroy the enzymes," said Karyn Calabrese, a well-known raw foodist in the Chicago-area in an NBC5 article. "You need enzymes for every metabolic purpose in your body. When you lose enzymes, that's when you die."

Even though your body produces some enzymes on its own, if you’ve been eating only cooked foods for a long time, your body must divert extra energy to producing more and more enzymes to break down this food.

This puts a strain on your digestive organs, including your pancreas, and some say may cause premature damage to these organs that can impact your overall health.

On the other hand, if you eat raw foods that contain their own living enzymes, you’re giving your body a break, and allowing it to digest efficiently with very little effort. This is actually one of the key benefits that raw foodists often give to advocate a raw food diet.

How to Make Sure Your Diet is Enzyme-Rich

While there have been no major studies done to show that eating enzyme-rich foods is beneficial to your health, many experts in natural medicine believe doing so is a key way to stay healthy.

There are numerous enzyme supplements available on the market to help increase your levels, and you can also do so by making sure to include more fresh, raw foods in your diet.